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White House moves to 'kill off the password'

The White House says it is making progress in its effort to kill the online password.

Security alternatives to the password funded by the administration will start rolling out in six to 12 months, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel said Tuesday at the Chamber of Commerce.

“We simply have to kill off the password,” he said. “It's a terrible form of security.”

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The White House has been trying to push people away from passwords since early 2011, when it launched the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). The initiative funded public-private pilot programs working on secure password replacements.

“There are plenty of technical solutions,” Daniel said. But what hasn’t been “cracked” are the “non-technical humps” to adoption, such as liability and networking issues, he said.

The projects on the cusp should address these hindrances, Daniel said.

“I'm excited to report very soon we will have many of these pilots starting to come to fruition.

Daniel did not give specifics on exactly which of the pilot programs — ranging from using a mobile device for identification to using a wearable ring or bracelet — will be rolled out. But they will be “widely available" once they are ready, he said.